AUTHOR'S NOTES

The protagonist is usually the one to hold the weight of the world over the shoulders, even though if sometimes the role of the hero belongs to someone else. For a reason the author decided to make this person the focus of the voyage in store for the audience. This means the protagonist will be the one to truly see or feel the stakes at hand, and the emotional center of the whole story.

Emotion is truly the keyword here, because a story only works as much as it manages to create some sort of emotional response from the viewer. Will the audience wish for the warrior to win? Fear the monster preying the characters? Cry for the emotional breakdown of the one who did everything to succeed?

Thus the protagonist also carries the weight of the story itself. It's hard to be the eye of the storm and, strangely enough, the more we love our protagonists, the more we ask of them. And the more they have to endure.

XI

GROUP THERAPY

Ysabelle needed a little extra persuasion to join the meeting. She kept insisting that they really should do something regarding the engine of one of the half-tracks. In her words, "who would pass the opportunity to work on a HL42 TRKM engine?"

Her enthusiasm was comprehensive, and maybe it was allowing her to cope with the recent trauma. But they had to have that discussion right now.

The group gathered around the Panzer IV. For some reason they seemed to see the machine as the core of the squadron. One could imagine why, as it was easily the most powerful of their tanks, and the big scar in the front gave it the air of some grizzled veteran, eager for more enemy blood. An image that was immediately broken once one's eyes found the purple anglerfish painted in the side of the turret.

Maria stood upright besides Anja, looking over the group while everyone found their places. Erwin and his friends decided to sit on top of the Panzer's turret, so they could have a vantage point over the girls, certainly something that was part of their exuberant teenage masculinity. Even so, Tamara sat against the front wheel of the tank. For some reason she seemed to have already bounded quite well with the boys.

The M3's girls gathered in front of the tank, while Maria's own crew sat to their right. Ursel and Monica found a place in front of Tamara. Finally the remaining crew from the Type 89 was sitting near the tank's track. Tabea had her right arm strapped to her chest and bandages around her head and shoulder.

Maria still looked around, her eyes scoping the technicians verifying the vehicles and some troopers who leaned against a nearby wall to watch the meeting. It took her a moment to realize no one else was coming.

She could feel the empty space in the crowd.

"Very well, girls," Anja began, before noticing what was wrong in her sentence, "and boys… There's something we need to discuss and that's why we're having this meeting."

She moved from one foot to the other, noticing she was getting slightly nervous. Deep inside Anja didn't want to face more empty spaces in group meetings, but, on the other hand, she also felt someone had to stood up and defend the country, right?

So, she proceeded to explain the general outline of what Messner had told her and Maria.

"That's what's going on," Anja said in the end, "they need the tanks and the crews, and if we help them we might manage to achieve their goals and even spare some soldier's lives in the process. More importantly, we might gain precious time for our people to get to safety before the invaders move on. Nitzschmann and I have already agreed to do this, but we realize we cannot force you into it, so we want to know what your thoughts are."

Anja looked at all the eighteen faces in front of her. They were all somber and thoughtful. She allowed them to stay like that for a while and then decided they should move on with it.

She glanced at the boys on top of the tank.

"So, what do you want to do?"

Erwin and his friends looked at each other and turned back at Anja.

"Well, you see… You were right. They've conscripted us already. A hauptmann gave us some papers to sign." He shrugged. "We don't have much of a choice now. Given that, I would prefer to stay with you girls."

The other boys nodded in agreement. From her position in the floor, Tamara pointed at Erwin.

"I'll stay with them." She declared. "They can't do anything without me, anyhow."

Erwin leaned to glance at her. "Very well, I'll tolerate you in my tank, then!"

"It isn't really a tank, you know?" Tamara spat back at him with a sardonic smile on her face. The blond young man simply pouted and crossed his arms.

"Don't make me regret my glorious command decision…"

The banter made Anja and some of the other girls chuckle a little. Then she turned to the M3's crew.

"What about you?"

"Does this means we'll have to go meet the men who are trying to kill us again?" Karina Schumacher yelped, terrified with the perspective.

Anja shook her head. "Only if you decide to came with us."

The four girls of Rabbit Team went silent, Karina and Jule sobbing a little.

"We-we..." Augusta, the commander, spoke so suddenly it startled everyone. "We're doing this for the Fatherland, right? For our parents, our families, and friends… To gain the military command time to do something about the invasion?"

"That's pretty much it."

"I see… Count me in, then."Augusta leaned back and looked Anja right in the eye. "I'll do it."

The gunner, Saskia, also decided to stay, as well as Jule, although she hesitated longer than the others. Only Karina was left.

"I really don't want to." Her eyes were wet and it was evident that she would prefer to go back. So Augusta offered her the way out.

"You don't need to stay, Karina. We understand."

The poor girl covered her face with her hands, now crying uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry!"

"It's all right." Augusta embraced her and allowed her to stay like that, sobbing in silence. It was evident that she was already broken and unable to endure any more fighting.

"Karina…" The thought crossed Anja's mind that if everyone else decided to follow suit and quit she would be left with barely two crews to make do. That would limit dramatically the squadron's potential.

Well, Anja would accept her words. The Boxer truck was now parked outside the motor pool, waiting to be returned to Baderberg. Surely Karina would have no problems driving it back there. Anyway, Anja still needed to know what the others wanted to do. She turned to the Panzer IV's crew.

"You?"

The first to speak was Hanna, presenting Maria a supportive smile.

"I'll follow Fräulein Nitzschmann. I trust she will lead us to great things."

"You will?" Simone exclaimed. "Then I'll be damned if I let you two alone! I'm in!"

Behind her Ysabelle stood on her knees, clasping her hands enthusiastically.

"I'll follow commander Nitzschmann, too!"

Those words truly shocked Maria. Were those girls really willing to stay there in hell just because they saw her as their friend? It shocked her so much she simply stood there, staring at them.

The last crewmember, Meike, seemed more uneasy. She folded her legs against her chest, embracing them while her gaze focused on the tips of her shoes.

"You're in?" Anja insisted.

"Can I have some time to think this through?" The black-haired girl asked.

"No you cannot. No-one else here has that luxury, Reinhard. Make your decision."

Meike shook her head. It was evident that she felt to have seen enough war for a lifetime. But, then again, it didn't felt right to abandon the others like that.

"I'm in, I'm in!" She spat, although unsteadily. For Anja it was enough for the moment.

"You two?" She asked to Monica and Ursel.

"Well, I'm kind of fearful that you might not know what to do without us around." Monica told her. "Anyway, what do we have to lose by this point?"

"I agree with her." Ursel declared. "We're in."

And now only three were left. Anja was actually fearful of what they could say, that was why she'd left them for last. But there was no point in avoiding it, so she made the survivors from Duck Team the same question she gave everyone else.

"And you, girls? What do you want to do?"

There was a slight delay in their reply. It wasn't hard to see why. Anke and Tabea especially still had those empty expressions in their faces. Losing her friend and having been that close to death had let them behaving like shadows of their former selves. Tabea moved her injured arm aimlessly, and then she turned to Anja, apparently too tired to even talk.

"I can't…" She mumbled. Her tone and general behavior made almost everyone around her shiver, realizing some wounds were much worse than those inflicted upon the flesh.

Beside her Anke simply shook her head, unable to utter a single word. That left Constanze, who was the one in better shape of the three. The fact that she was knocked unconscious when the Type 89 was hit had spared her of the worst of what followed. While her shell-shocked friends gave their feeble replies to Anja's question, Constanze was looking at Karina, still crying in Augusta's arms.

"Kaulitz? What's your reply?"

Anja's insistence made her turn to face the leader. She blinked once and nodded.

"Count me in."

That was it. Almost everyone had decided to stay for the long run. With luck tomorrow's battle would be the very last one, anyhow. The quitters would return to Baderberg that same day, with Karina on the wheel as the others couldn't do much by themselves at the moment.

"Thank you all, my friends." Anja told the group. "Your dedication is commendable, and I believe that we will make a good figure of ourselves tomorrow, regardless of what others may think. We've survived the fire once, and we can perfectly do it again! To the others, I understand your decision and thank you for what you've already done."

Then she turned to Maria. "There's one last thing I would like to say. I would like to hereby relinquish my command to Fräulein Nitzschmann."

That surprised everyone. Even Erwin, who was fiddling with his hat, dropped it when he heard the declaration.

"What are you saying, Königsberg?" Maria was probably among those most shocked by the news. "You've led us until now, and… I'm not ready for such a responsibility."

"Nonsense!" Anja shook her index finger in front of her face. "You're much better prepared for what we'll be facing from now on than I will ever be! I've seen how you reacted when we needed a plan back in the other night, and how you've led us during the fight. There's no-one else here better qualified to lead this squadron than you!"

The odd silence that followed those words was abruptly interrupted by Ysabelle's excitement.

"Oh, my! This is so right!" She was shaking her closed fists frantically in the air, her face the epitome of pure joy. "Marco Nitzschmann's sister commanding her own tank squadron! And we're here to live through this!"

Around them the other girls started commenting the fact between them. They all agreed, it made sense to have Maria on the lead. After all, if someone knew what would take to keep them all alive it would be her.

Maria looked around, to all of those faces, seemingly much more relieved now that they knew she was the leader. That was a lot of trust placed on her shoulders.

"I'll accept, then." She said. "Thank you for your confidence."

Anja patted her shoulder.

"I'm not going anywhere, though. I'll be here to ensure you won't do anything inappropriate, Führerin Nitzschmann."

"All right then." Maria smiled at her. It was funny; just a few days ago she couldn't really be certain if she should trust that girl, and now there she was, putting her own life in her hands. That was a commitment she would have to honor to the full of her abilities. And the same went with all the other girls and boys who were now part of the squadron.

Atop the Panzer IV, Erwin accepted his hat from Tamara, and raised a hand.

"What is it, Morgenstern?" Anja asked him. Although Maria was now the leader anything regarding that annoying kid was still under Anja's responsibility, it seemed.

"One important thing," Erwin said, "what is our battle cry?"

"Battle cry?"

"Yeah! No honorable combat unit can go around without its own battle cry! I would like to know which will be ours."

The other boys vehemently agreed with him. The girls didn't seem to be all that concerned with the idea. Even so it was one of them, Simone, who came with a proposal.

"Well, if you're really worried about that, then what about Panzer Vor!"

It couldn't be, that was simply too silly given the circumstances! Maria let out a long chuckle. She couldn't actually tell why, but the whole idea seemed incredibly funny to her.

"All right, I agree with you!" She said when she finally managed to catch her breath. "If everyone agrees I'll make this my first official decision as a leader of the Baderberg Panzer Squadron." She coughed to be back of her hand. "Our official battle cry should hereby be 'Panzer Vor'!"

She chuckled again after saying that, as did many of the girls. They looked at each other, and even embraced those who would leave and go back to Baderberg. Erwin had had a great idea, and Maria's decision had given the newly-formed squadron something to unite around. Then most of the group raised their fists and yelled at the top of their lungs:

PANZER VOR!

The grenadiers and technicians nearby could only guess what was up with that.